


Toki Wartooth, Not a Bumblebee.

by hatebeat



Series: Putting the gears in motion [11]
Category: Metalocalypse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 14:03:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hatebeat/pseuds/hatebeat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway. Toki never imagined he would see so many people gather in one place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Toki Wartooth, Not a Bumblebee.

_February 23, 1994. Lillehammer, Norway._

Toki had watched the airplanes flying overhead for weeks. His father had smacked him across the face for dallying in his chores because every time one flew past, Toki stopped what he was doing to watch it. He knew it was his own fault, but he couldn't help it. It was such an amazing thing, being able to fly like that! He didn't understand it, but he wanted to. He wanted to go up in one of those things and fly just like them. Maybe he could even fly somewhere far away from here. 

Vehicles started coming, too. Big trucks and everything, and they were coming down roads near Toki's home. Nobody usually traveled those roads. People usually left them alone out here, but not lately. Toki knew something big was happening. 

When he couldn't take it anymore, he asked his father what was going on, but his father beat him bloody for being inquisitive about the machines of the devil. The day after that he was too sore to do his chores, and he was stricken with a curiosity so strong that the next airplane that flew overhead made him do something he had never before considered doing in his life.

Toki looked back at the house to make sure his parents weren't in view of the windows. Then, he deliberately put one foot on the path leading away from their house. Then another. Then he started to walk. He walked slowly, but determined, until he had gone around the bend. Then, once out of sight from the house, he started to run. Toki ran until his lungs felt like they would collapse from the stress of the cold air and his legs were cramping from the effort of plowing through snow. 

But it hit him, then, that he could do whatever he wanted. Even if his father beat him for it later, he could do whatever he wanted. His father was going to beat him for things anyway, right? So he was going to find out what was happening and where all those airplanes were going.

He walked in the direction of town for a long time, but he wasn't really dressed for walking through the snow. He took care to head the same direction the airplanes had gone, but he had never gone into town by himself before. He only went when his mother took him to buy the household's groceries. When he was starting to have his doubts that he was even going the right way, a beaten up truck came chugging down the snowy roadway. 

Arms huddled around himself, he stepped off the side of the road to let the truck pass by, but unexpectedly, it came to a crunching halt next to him, huge tires grinding in the snow. The window rolled down and Toki peered up, but didn't recognise the face of the man inside.

"Boy! Are you heading into town?"

Toki felt a little distrustful. His parents forbade him from communicating with those outside the household. But today, Toki was doing what _Toki _wanted, not what his parents wanted. So he nodded, distrustful or not.__

__"Well, then, let me give you a ride. It's a long walk, boy."_ _

__Toki rounded to the other side of the truck and climbed in._ _

__"Thank you, sir," he said, a small smile spreading across his lips as he realised nobody was here to hit him for talking to outsiders. He could do what he wanted to do._ _

__"Don't mention it. Going there anyway, no trouble at all. Here," the man reached for a thermos. "Have some coffee, it'll warm you up. You need to get a proper coat on yourself, boy."_ _

__Toki graciously accepted the cup and held it between his hands for a moment, just letting it warm them. The truck started to lurch back down the road as he sipped it._ _

__"Sir?" Toki asked timidly once he finished his cup. "What's going on in town? I saw all the airplanes."_ _

__"You don't know? The Olympic Games are going on, boy. You haven't heard?"_ _

__Toki grew still and looked down at his knees, suddenly feeling very stupid, and just a touch of fear._ _

__"We don't, um, have television in my house, so..." He hoped that was a good excuse. No wonder his parents didn't want him to communicate with outsiders. He had no idea how to talk to them. His family wasn't normal. _He_ wasn't normal._ _

__"You're in for a real treat, then, boy. Lillehammer hasn't ever been this lively."_ _

__It certainly hadn't. That much was made clear when they got into town. The streets were crowdeded with so many different looking kinds of people and there were banners decorating fronts of stores and sidewalks in lots of different languages. The man dropped him off outside of the grocery store, as he claimed he was buying food for his family, and Toki thanked him again for his kindness before turning deliberately away from the store._ _

__The Olympic Games. He didn't know anything about them, but he was fascinated nonetheless._ _

__

__He spent the afternoon walking through the city, despite the cold. He was too fascinated by everything going on around him to even notice the cold. He walked until his legs were frozen and sore, but he was following the direction that all of the cars and people were heading._ _

__When he found a large building with lines and lines of people streaming from it, Toki stopped walking and approached it with a degree of caution and uncertainty. _Håkons Hall_ read the letters on the outside of the building. This must be where some of the games were happening. He had no idea what kind of games they would be, but he took his place at the end of one of the lines, hoping to be able to enter._ _

__After waiting for what seemed like hours, a big screen on the outside of the building flared to life, taking Toki by surprise. They really didn't have television at home- that hadn't been a lie- but he'd caught glimpes of it while in the city. The size of this screen dwarfed all of them in comparison._ _

__"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,to tonight's ice hockey match of the 1994 Winter Olympics." Each word was announced in Norwegian, but another voice repeated it in another language. English, Toki assumed. "You have gathered here this evening to see our quarterfinal challenger, the United States, take on Finland."_ _

__Ice hockey. Toki knew about the concept of it, but he had never seen a match. A feeling he had never felt before took hold of his chest. It was better than the feeling he got when it was Christmas Day and he didn't have to do any chores, but could have a big feast and even get a gift. It was a million times better than that. It was _excitement_._ _

__But when his place in line finally made it to the arena's entrance, a man guarding the entry stopped him._ _

__"Do you have a ticket?" the man asked, stopping Toki with a firm hand on his scrawny shoulder._ _

__"No. Those are my parents," Toki said, pointing at the couple who had just entered in front of him._ _

__"Excuse me- sir. Sir, is this your son? You only showed two tickets..."_ _

__The man turned and looked at Toki, looked him right in the eye. Toki thought he might take pity on him, but he looked vaguely disgusted._ _

__The man said something in response in English that Toki couldn't understand, and the ticket collector looked back at Toki, frowning._ _

__"I'm sorry, child, but you can't enter without a ticket. Go on. Get out of here."_ _

__Toki curled up his hands in fists and took himself out of the line. He tried to find another entrance, but it was impossible to get in no matter where he tried. It wasn't like he had any money for a ticket. Discouraged, he went back around the other side of the building, but when he got there, he found that the giant screen from earlier was showing the beginning of the match._ _

__Toki stood there transfixed, watching a bunch of guys with long sticks, bulked up with pads underneath their clothes, skating out onto the ice. Even though he couldn't get inside, watching the match on this screen was the most exhilarated he had ever felt in his whole life._ _

__That was the moment when Toki realised it. He couldn't continue living the life he had lived up until this point. There was too much else going on in the world and he wanted to see all of it. He wouldn't do it anymore. From now on, Toki would do what Toki wanted to do._ _

__

__The sun had long since sunken out of sight and Toki was shivering by time the ice hockey match ended. People started spilling out in great numbers, passing Toki by without a thought. He was invisible to them. Nobody knew who he was because he didn't belong to any of them, so none of them saw him._ _

__Since nobody was thinking about him at all, he got up walked around to the back of the building. There were areas that were fenced off, but through the fences he could see other doors, lots of vans and buses and there were signs posted all over that no spectators should enter the area. But nobody noticed Toki, so he went right up to the fence and looked for a way in. There were people outside who looked like they were working, so Toki was careful, even though he was invisible, and ducked behind the surrounding small trees while he tried to find a way in._ _

__After nearly losing hope, there was an area all the way on the opposite side of the enclosure with a gate that wasn't chained shut. It was risky, but Toki felt invisible and _powerful_ , so when nobody was looking, he slipped in through the gate and then immediately to the back of some vehicles. He wasn't sure what was going on in here, but it looked important, and he could do anything he wanted. Anything._ _

__Even though it was late, and he was sure that by now his parents knew he was gone..._ _

__Toki didn't care. He loved his parents, but it was too late. He couldn't go back to living that life. At least, not yet. He would go home when he was ready._ _

__He watched a man loading sporting bags and cases into a van for a while. It must have been the players' gear from the match. That alone was enough to excite Toki. He was that close to the action even if he hadn't been able to go inside. What he wasn't expecting, though, was for the back door of the building to open and for the players of one of the teams to come spilling out, talking loudly... They must have been the American team, because Toki couldn't pick up anything they were saying._ _

__The man who was loading the van turned away to go talk to them and Toki didn't think much about it. He hopped into the open door of the van and squirmed beneath and behind several big pieces of luggage, condensing himself to become as small as he was physically able. When the man returned and started adding more gear to the van, Toki held his breath, momentarily terrified that he'd be spotted, but the man took no notice of him._ _

__Toki really was invisible. He could do anything he wanted. He was empowered!_ _

__The longer he sat crunched up on the floor of the van, though, the more he began to worry. This was a bit of a stupid idea, maybe. He had no idea where this van was going. He had no idea what would happen when he got caught- and he was pretty sure he would be caught at some point. But the door had closed a while ago, so it was too late to back out. At least he was warmer, but he was suddenly starting to notice how hungry he was._ _

__It had been at least an hour when he heard a door close in the front of the van and the engine start, and Toki's worries melted away to be replaced once again by an unfamiliar excitement._ _

___I could end up anywhere_ , he realised, no longer afraid. Today, he'd given himself the gift of his own freedom, so from here on was an adventure._ _

__

__It was a long time before the van came to a halt- not just pausing at a traffic light, but the engine turned off altogetherl. He realised suddenly that he was probably about to get caught. They would take all the bags out of the van, right? And then Toki would have nowhere to hide. So he did the first thing that came to mind: he unzipped one of the largest bags and slid his whole body inside._ _

__There was no way it would work. He may have been small for his age, but they would notice it was heavier... maybe... But how long could Toki last in here if they didn't?_ _

__There was noise around him and more voices speaking English, and when he felt himself being moved, he squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to continue being invisible. He landed with a hard thud on the ground, but whatever was in this bag was mostly soft and he wasn't really hurt by it._ _

__The voices eventually walked away, and he waited a bit to make sure they had really left, but just when he was about to crawl out from the confines of the bag, a new pair of voices appeared, ones that he could finally understand, but they weren't talking about anything important. One was talking about a problem with his wife, and the other one was just half-heartedly agreeing with disinterest._ _

__He found himself being hoisted up and then slid roughly over a floor. Toki ground his teeth, trying not to make any noise with the pain, but where was he? Was he put into another van? Where were they going to take him now? The uncertainty almost pressured him to reveal himself, but the curiosity won out in the end, and he stayed quiet and hidden._ _

__The noises around him stopped and he heard a door slam shut, but it sounded huge and swung shut. It wasn't the sound of a sliding door like he recognised in the van. He waited a while, his muscles starting to cramp up, but everything was quiet for a long time, so hesitantly, Toki pushed at the bag's zipper until he could pop just his head out._ _

__The room he was in was completely alien to him. It was large and everything was made of metal, but there were no windows. The only door was huge, but there didn't seem to be any obvious way to open it. Toki didn't want to; he wanted to see where he was going to end up, but it was a little bit scary to not be able to identify what kind of machine he was inside of. It was too big to be a car. Maybe it was a huge truck, like a semi-truck or something. But it wasn't rectangular in shape._ _

__Toki was hungry and he had to go to the bathroom, but there was nothing he could do about it now. This was the choice he had made. He had gotten himself into this, and now he had no choice but to wait it out._ _

__

__He wasn't sure how long it had been, but suddenly the vehicle he was in roared to life around him, louder than any engine he'd ever heard in his life. He grabbed onto the nearest wall to make sure he stayed steady, but he had no idea what was happening._ _

__Toki was a little bit scared. But it had to be fine, right? He reassured himself with the thought that these bags belonged to professional Olympic hockey players or something, so they wouldn't do anything dangerous to them. Even if they were in a weird room with loud engines._ _

__The vehicle lurched forward so suddenly that Toki nearly fell over, so he knelt down to the floor, sitting against the wall. The vehicle kept picking up speed, faster and faster, faster than Toki had ever moved in his life, and then something happened. Something he couldn't explain, but he had been able to feel and hear wheels rolling through the floor and then suddenly they were gone, the sound was gone and he was moving much more smoothly and..._ _

__Toki realised he was moving _upward_._ _

__Heart pounding, he clutched at the wall, but he slid a little bit anyway as the airplane headed up into the sky. He was terrified, but he was also happier than he had ever been in his life._ _

__This morning, he had woken up, eaten breakfast, and started his chores like any other day, but tonight he was flying through the air, and he had no idea where he was going, but at least he knew that he wasn't going home._ _

__

__The flight was rough on him. It lasted much longer than he expected. At one point, Toki couldn't hold it anymore and, ashamed, had no choice but to relieve himself in the corner of the room. After that, he had curled up against a wall and fallen asleep, but for how long, he could only guess. They were still in the air when he woke._ _

__He was hungrier than he'd ever been in his life when he felt the airplane begin to descend, and the tired realisation set in that he would have to squeeze himself back inside of that luggage so that he didn't get caught. He didn't want to get caught anywhere near the airplane; they would send him right back home to his parents, right? He wasn't going home, not yet. Maybe not ever, but he wasn't sure._ _

__Shoved inside the bag, he ended up waiting a really long time, so long that despite how uncomfortable he was, he fell asleep once again._ _

__

__He was stuck in the bag for ages. Possibly years. There were periods of time where he stopped moving, was picked up and handled, was loaded into a vehicle, was picked up and moved more. Toki thought he might die of starvation by the time it was all over, but eventually a point came when he was left alone in a quiet place that he could tell was inside a building. At this point, he didn't care if he was caught and shipped home. It would be better than all this. He didn't want to be hungry anymore. He didn't want to be cramped up in this stupid bag. So once it was quiet, he let himself out of it._ _

__The room he was in was dark. Trying to take his first step on cramped, stiff legs, he tripped over something. The room was full of stuff and Toki couldn't tell which way was out. Was he maybe wrong? Maybe he was in another truck or something? But the floor was hard. Definitely concrete. He made his way, eventually, to a wall where he kept his hand until he stumbled into a door. Toki tried the handle, but it was locked._ _

__His heart sank all the way to the pit of his empty stomach. He was trapped in some room, he was starving, and he had to go to the bathroom. What was he supposed to do, just wait until someone found him? What if nobody ever came?_ _

__He was so stupid! Why did he run away from home? He'd never misbehaved before in his life- not intentionally, anyway- and he had always been safe. If he hadn't run away, he wouldn't be in this stupid situation! Maybe his parents knew best, after all. The outside world was a dangerous place, they told him. It was full of temptation and evil. Toki had fallen for the temptations of the outside world, and look where he was now: in a stupid locked room!_ _

__Toki kicked at the door, and then sat down in the corner, pulling his legs to his chest. It could be years before someone found him in here. Who knew? After a while of sulking, he gave in and let himself go to the bathroom in the corner of the room, just like he had on the plane. It was disgusting and humiliating, but he had no choice! He couldn't hold it anymore, even if it was shameful to do that like some kind of puppy or something..._ _

__Eventually, lost and hungry and afraid, Toki started to cry. He cried, and he started to pound on the door. He had no way of knowing if anyone was on the other side of the door, but if there was, they would hear him, right? Toki cried until he was sick to his stomach and kicking the door, and suddenly, he dared to believe it, but the door gave way and a man was standing in a rectangle of light looking down at him._ _

__"What are you doing in here?" the man said to him, but Toki couldn't understand him. It sounded like English, but Toki had know way of even knowing where he was._ _

__"Thank you for letting me out," Toki said, climbing to his feet, his empty stomach groaning in protest. The man gave him a strange look. "You don't understand Norwegian?"_ _

__"What? I don't understand you. How'd you get in here?"_ _

__Toki was at a loss. This guy clearly didn't understand him, and Toki didn't understand him, either. He just shook his head, and the guy pulled a walkie talkie from his hip and started to talk to someone in it._ _

__Two more people came and they all kept trying to talk to him, but none of them could understand Norwegian, so eventually they led him away from the room he'd been in. It was a stadium, Toki was realising quickly, and he looked around in awe. This was exactly the kind of place he'd wanted to go in before, to watch the hockey match! But this was definitely not Norway... Everything was in English, all of the signs and everything, and these people spoke only English, as well._ _

__They brought him to a room and sat him down in a chair, and after they heard his stomach growling for long enough, one of them brought him some crackers and a banana, which Toki accepted gratefully and devoured. He was still hungry, but it was at least a little bit better. He was starting to wonder just what they planned to do with him when two men in uniforms came into the room. Toki looked them over and quickly deduced that they were probably police officers or something similar._ _

__"What are you going to do to me?" he protested- they weren't going to arrest him, right? But it didn't help anything: they couldn't understand him, either. They asked him more questions, and Toki was so frustrated and exhausted and still so hungry. He couldn't help but decide that he hated all of this._ _

__They made him go with them out of the stadium and into their car. Toki was really afraid he was being arrested or something, but there was really no way to know, but the walk between the stadium and the car made him realise just how far from home he was. Nothing on the outside was recognizable. The architecture wasn't even the same as it was even in Lillehammer. He was really in another country. One where everyone spoke English... So, England? America? He had no way of knowing. He didn't fight them as they opened the car door for him, just got inside with a deep sigh._ _

__One of the officers started the engine, and he leaned his head against the window and nearly immediately fell into a light, turbulent sleep._ _

__

__When Toki awoke, he was laying on a small sofa with a thin, scratchy blanket spread over him. He had no idea where he was, and the realisation made him sit up right away, a little panicked. While he was asleep, it had been easy to forget everything that had happened, but now that he was awake, it was impossible to ignore._ _

__He had no idea where he was, but everyone at the place was dressed in the same uniform as the police who took him away from the stadium, so it had to be a police station or something similar, but it didn't look scary in any way. They gave Toki food, and after he ate they steered him over to a desk and made him look at a map. There was no way to be sure what they wanted from him, but they had to be trying to figure out where he came from, right? Were they going to send him home?_ _

__Toki didn't care anymore. His eyes scanned the map and he put his finger down on Norway, then hesitantly looked up at the woman who had placed him in front of the map. The police officers were suddenly saying a lot of things to each other, and Toki could feel the frustration starting to bubble up in his chest, threatening to spill out. One of the men made eye contact with him, and then he put his finger down on the map, too. Toki's eyes followed to where it landed, far across the ocean. In America. He didn't know the geography of America at all, but he put his hand on the man's and pulled his finger back so he could look at the writing underneath his finger. The word in bold read _Chicago_._ _

__That was where he was? He wasn't really familiar... Toki was sure he had heard the word a few times here or there, but he couldn't really place those memories. It was the name of a city, right?_ _

__

__It was several hours later when the police officers approached him again, this time with someone who wasn't dressed in a uniform. She was a lady wearing a short skirt and tall shoes, and Toki looked up at her a little fearfully. This was the sort of woman his mother condemned, he thought, but she looked him right in the eye and smiled._ _

__"Hello there. What's your name?"_ _

__Toki just gaped at her for a moment. Finally somebody said something to him that he understood and made sense! He couldn't believe it at all. She had a thick accent, but that was definitely Norwegian that she was speaking._ _

__"Toki," he told her, leaning forward in his chair to get a better look at her. "You can understand me?"_ _

__She smiled kindly at him and seated herself across the table from him._ _

__"It's nice to meet you, Toki. My name is Marianne. I work at the University of Chicago teaching Norwegian studies."_ _

__Toki felt so many things at once, a lot of silly things, like that he wanted to cry, maybe, because he was so grateful._ _

__"That's where I am, then? Chicago?"_ _

__"Yes, Toki. Chicago, Illinois. In the United States. You're awfully far from home, aren't you?" she asked him, looking at him intently. When Toki pressed his lips together and didn't say anything, she pressed him. "How did you get here? The police said you were found in Chicago Stadium..."_ _

__Toki looked down at the table, glaring at the wood finish. No matter how grateful he was to have someone who could understand him, he didn't want to tell her anything. They were going to make him go home, right? He made it all the way to America! All by himself! He just decided that he was going to leave home, and he _did_ , and he wasn't going to go back. They couldn't make him._ _

__"I ran away," he stubbornly told her._ _

__"Why did you run away?" she asked. Toki furrowed his eyebrows and said nothing. "Don't you want to tell me?"_ _

__Pressing his lips into a firm line, Toki resolutely shook his head, _no_. _ _

__"Do you want to go home?"_ _

__Toki met her eyes, then, and considered that. He didn't want to go home, not ever again. But what was he going to do if he didn't? He didn't like being hungry and having to hide, either. But he had done so many amazing things, even if it was scary. He went in a plane! In the sky! He never thought he'd be able to do that- his father wouldn't even let him ask _questions_ about airplanes, let alone _fly_ , but he had done it. He'd done it all on his own._ _

__"I don't want to go home," he decided resolutely._ _

__She frowned slightly, really studying him, and it made Toki a little uncomfortable._ _

__"Well, Toki, there are laws and things that might not make that so easy... You're very young, aren't you? How old are you?"_ _

__"Thirteen," Toki quietly answered. "I'll be fourteen in a few months, though!" That would make a difference, right? "I don't want to go home, I don't want to! Please don't make me."_ _

__Something about her face softened, and Toki didn't really know if she had any power to make that happen for him, but maybe she would help...?_ _

__"There are ways around the laws, Toki. I think. I'm no legal expert- I'm just a professor and interpreter. And I don't know the laws in Norway regarding runaways, either, but I might be able to help the police here look into them. But maybe if you explained why you don't want to go home, these people might be able to help you."_ _

__Toki bit his lip. How was he supposed to explain what his family was like? He was grateful for the life he had, but he hated his parents. He loved them, but at the same time, he hated them! He hated the way they treated him, hated the way they kept him caged. He wanted to learn, he wanted to _fly_ , he wanted so much more from life than doing stupid chores and spending days at a time trapped in the punishment hole._ _

__Even though his parents tried hard to make him a good man in the eyes of God, maybe they had failed somewhere along the way._ _

__He was still considering how to explain all of this to this strange woman when she asked, "Were you being abused at home, Toki?"_ _

__Toki flinched, straightening up and sitting back in his chair suddenly. He wasn't expecting that question, and being asked in such a forward manner was startling. The fact that he was even considering answering made him feel like he was on the verge of being beaten again._ _

__Nevertheless, he lowered his eyes to the table and nodded. And suddenly, something touched his hand, and he jumped in surprise; Marianne had reached across the table and wrapped her soft, warm fingers around his._ _

__"Alright, Toki. I can understand that you don't want to go home. I can't promise you you won't have to, but I'm going to ask them to try to help you."_ _

__Really stupidly, Toki almost wanted to cry. Or something! Someone was on his side for once, and... maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to go home._ _

__"Thank you," he said, his voice just a whisper._ _

__

__It was a day later when they ushered him into a car again. There was a lot of talking around him and looking at him in strange ways from the people at the police station, but whatever they were saying was left to Toki's imagination. There were words here and there that he thought he could understand, but not nearly enough to make sense of anything that was going on around him._ _

__"Are you going to send me back to Norway?" he asked them, repeatedly and uselessly, as they put him in the car. Predictably, he got no answer._ _

__"Please don't make me go home," he asked them, leaning forward from the back seat into the gap between the front ones as the car started up. The officer driving ignored him. The guy in the passenger seat said something to him, but whatever it was, Toki had no way of knowing._ _

__When the car came to a halt, Toki immediately pressed his hands and face to the window, looking out at the sidewalk and the buildings next to it, trying to investigate where they were. He didn't see any airplanes or anything around. But if they did try to put him on another airplane, he would just sneak off. Like he did before. They couldn't make him do anything he didn't want to- Toki was in control, here! He got here all on his own, he could do whatever he wanted!_ _

__He wouldn't go home. He wouldn't! They couldn't make him!_ _

__He stepped out of the car when prompted, already looking for ways he could run if he was challenged, but they led him to a door. There was writing on the outside of it. _Miss Alice's Home For Lost Bumblees_ , it said, but Toki could only understand what half of those words meant, or at least he thought he might._ _

__One of the officers opened the door, and put a hand on Toki's shoulder, nudging him to go inside. He went in, but it was a house... A really big house, maybe, but it was just a house. But then he noticed suddenly that Marianne was standing inside!_ _

__"Why are they bringing me here?" Toki asked her right away, trying to hide the fear in his voice, but not quite managing. Marianne came right over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a brave smile, and just that much made him feel a little bit more secure._ _

__"This is a shelter for homeless youth, Toki," she explained gently. "Much like yourself, right? The police have agreed to let you stay here, at least for the time being."_ _

__"I don't have to go home?"_ _

__Marianne looked quickly to the officers, and then back to Toki. "The police, by law, had to make contact with the Norwegian government, alerting them that one of their citizens was in custody here. However, there haven't been any missing persons reports that would matched a description of you... and you had no identification on you when found, so... there is very little that they can do at this time."_ _

__Toki took that all in, feeling floored. It was great. Great news. He didn't have to go home, maybe, but..._ _

__At the same time, his parents hadn't even notified anyone that he was gone? Toki felt a little bit sad about that, but..._ _

__It was for the best, right?_ _

__"So... So this is where I'm going to live?" Toki asked, hesitant._ _

__"Yes. At least for the time being, anyway. The woman who runs this shelter is named Alice Sheppard. She's going to be down shortly to show you around and explain the rules of the shelter. I'm here to translate for you, for now."_ _

__It was several minutes later when a woman, older than Marianne but not as old as Toki's mother, he thought, came down the staircase and into the foyer. She said a few things to Marianne, and she said a few things to the police officers, but then the officers left. One of them waved goodbye to Toki with a smile, and shyly, Toki waved back._ _

__"Toki, this is Miss Alice," Marianne said to him, and Toki looked up at the woman, and hesitantly, he nodded to her._ _

__"Hello," he said quietly._ _

__"Hello, Toki," the woman said, immitating the sound of his greeting. She continued to speak in English, then, but he only had to wait a moment for Marianne to translate for him._ _

__"Welcome to our program. I'm going to give you a tour and explain a little bit about how things work here. If you'd come with me..."_ _

__Once Marianne had finished, Miss Alice turned to head through a door, beckoning the two of them after her._ _

__"This is a home I've been running for nearly two decades now for teenagers who have nowhere else to go. As you can see, we have a lot of space for reacreation and visiting with one another, but please don't think that living here will be all fun and games."_ _

__Miss Alice led them to the next room._ _

__"You will have to attend public school, which I'm sure will be difficult for you at first, without knowing English. You're going to have to work hard to study English, right, Toki? Aside from that, you will also have daily chores._ _

__"This is the dining room. All of our meals are prepared by the home's residents. That is one of the chores the children are in charge of each day. Are you able to cook, Toki?"_ _

__Toki waited for Marianne to finish the translation, and then he looked at Alice and half-nodded. "I can a little bit. I helped my mother sometimes."_ _

__Miss Alice nodded, seemingly pleased. "I'm sure you'll be a great help to the other children, then. We have a system of privileges and responsibilities here, and based on your behavior, you'll get more of both. Good behaviour is obviously rewarded with more privileges. But I'll explain to you more about that in time..._ _

__"Let's go upstairs so you can see your room, alright?"_ _

__Miss Alice lead them up two floors. Toki looked in wonder at the closed doors he passed. They seemed to be bedrooms; decorations littered the outside of some of the doors. Some of them had drawings, some had posters, some just had what seemed to be names pasted up in shiny paper letters._ _

__"The others are all at school right now- we'll have you starting school as soon as we can, of course- but you can meet them later on. Here we are, this is where you will stay."_ _

__Miss Alice pushed open a door and Toki crept around the corner to peer into the room. Inside was a small bed, a window, a chest of drawers nearly as thin as he was, and an empty desk. There was nothing on the walls, nothing on the floor. It was emaculate._ _

__"This room is... for me?" Toki asked quietly, looking first at Miss Alice and then at Marianne._ _

__"Yes, this is going to be yours," Marianne assured him with a smile. "Do you like it?"_ _

__Unsure, Toki stepped into the room, walking all the way into the middle and looking around. It was small and there wasn't much of anything in it, but..._ _

__His parents were very far away, and he didn't have to go home. He turned around, spinning in a slow circle to look at everything, really looking it over. The sun was pouring in the window and the walls were white as Norway's snow. Slowly, Toki smiled._ _

__"It's perfect."_ _

__

__It was hours later when some of the other teenagers who lived at the shelter came home from school. Miss Alice brought Toki out to them and left him downstairs in the living room, long after Marianne left, but Toki had no way of speaking to them. Hesitant and insecure, he waved to them. One of them came right up to him, and got close to Toki's face. He was several inches taller and thicker than Toki, and looked intimidating. He said words to him, words that sounded like maybe they might not be very nice, but Toki didn't know what he had said at all._ _

__Toki needed to learn English, he realised right then and there. If he didn't, he would have to go home, maybe, and he had no plans to do that. He would stay here, he would make it, even if he had to learn English. He could be just as good as any of these other kids here._ _

__It was certainly easy to think that, but it was clear to him by time dinner was over that night that he wasn't one of these other stupid _bumblebees_. He just didn't fit in. At least, not yet._ _

__When he went up to his room that night, he sat down at his desk and opened each of the drawers. Toki found some blank paper and a pen inside, and without thinking too much about it, he pulled them out and started to write._ _

_Dear Father and Mother,_

_I have run away to the United States. I didn't mean to go so far. I just meant to go into town and see where all the airplanes were going. I know you didn't want me finding out, so I'm sorry. But I found out where they were going. It was to the Olympic games! And it was really amazing. I got to see them myself._

_I even got to ride in one of the airplanes. I don't think they are beasts of the devil like you said, either._

_I'm sorry, but I'm not going to come home. I realised something: I can do and go anywhere I want in my life. And I don't want to stay in Norway any longer. I'm going to live here, in the United States. Thank you for taking care of me for the past thirteen years. Maybe someday I will be able to come home. For now, I need to discover life on my own. I'm sorry._

_Love,_  
 _Toki_


End file.
